RWBY: Dust Storm
by Zev610
Summary: A secret long sealed in the Faunus war records, a secret many in the Atlas military have fought to bury has finally come to light. And in that light long shadows fall across Remnant. And in those shadows a war brews. A war Ruby and her friends may very well be unprepared to fight. And unlike the Grimm, true monsters wait in the shadows.
1. Prologue

Finn could hear the hum of engines as he sat on an uncomfortable metal chair. The chair was stainless steel, as was the matching table he rested his bound hands on. The fact he sat in an integration room that was furnished in stainless steel should have given him more cause for alarm than it did. The room's walls, floor and ceiling were made of thick reinforced metal. The kind of metal Atlas used on their airships. That and the endless rumbling sound of engines gave his location away. They had placed him on board one of their ships, where he was on his way to was still a mystery.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" Finn asked the two AK-130 robots standing guard at the only door leading to and from the room. Silence was all that came as the machines ignored his inquiry. "Hey! Where are you taking me? You know this is against the law, right? I didn't do anything wrong and you haven't even told me what I'm being charged with!" Still no answer came from the steadfast metal men. In truth Finn knew exactly why he was there, it was no fault of his own, but he still knew the reason. Finn was left waiting another half hour before the door opened and a man in fine military officer dress stepped in. Finn didn't know much about military ranks, but the number of bars on his collar and the medals on his breast betrayed his importance.

"Finn Rice." The officer stated after taking a seat. Only the sound of paper being caressed filled the room as he meticulously laid out files on the table. "Son of Enfys Rice."

"Yeah." Finn replied as he glanced down at the files. A lot of the files had blacked out lines of text and the words secret stamped on them. He was almost proud of the fact, even if it had landed him in his current situation. And it's not like he did anything to gain such notoriety, besides maybe being born to the wrong parents.

"I'm sure you already have an idea as to why you are here." It was only then that Finn noticed the name tag on the officer's breast; he had mistaken it for another medal at first.

"Yeah, I have a pretty good idea, Kidwell" Finn began as he leaned back in to his uncomfortable chair. "This has something to do with my father. I'll tell you what I told everyone else. I have no idea where he is, he abandoned me in Atlas."

"Yes, this does concern your father. We believe he is in Vale at this time and may have plans to interrupt the Vytal festival." informed Kidwell, but was almost angered by the boy's apparent indifference. "You can help us locate him . . . or we can look back in to your threat level."

"What!? I have proven to you I'm not a threat! I haven't told anyone or plan on striking back against you." Finn retorted as he felt himself losing control of his temper. "Atlas has been good to me; I have no problems with you. What happened with the military and my father has nothing to do with me!" Finn explained after taking a moment to calm himself.

"Yes, Atlas has been good to you, and now it's time for you to repay a fraction of that hospitality. You can assist us in locating and bringing your father to justice or you can suffer his fate." The officer threatened before collecting his files and moving towards the door. "I'll give you some time to think about your options." Were the last words Finn heard before the door sealed behind Kidwell .

The words my options spun around in Finn's head for nearly another half an hour before he rose from the table. He didn't have any options, all the options presented to him were worse than the last. If he refused he would be disposed of or subjected to a form of torture only his father and a few others had ever experienced. If he did as they requested he would be dooming his father to that same torture again or worse. Atlas had remained complacent for years with him and his father, what had happened was their silent shame. Something they had buried and were more than happy to keep buried. All parties agreed on that compromise and both sides were living in peace. They were even receiving compensation for what happened so long ago, it was the only thing that allowed Finn to live a semi normal life. Every moment he stayed in that room, hand cuffed, he realized more and more that the good times were over. Atlas was going to rid themselves of their embarrassment. Something had changed, hell if Finn knew what it was, but he needed to get off that ship.

"You think he will help us?" An officer in combat attire inquired. The image of of Finn pacing the room was displayed on monitors covering a desk, the only source of light in the entire room. "He seems rather nerves now."

"He most likely is just scared of the good life slipping through his fingers. He'll help us, he's been pampered by Atlas for too long. He trusts us more than his own father." Kidwell stated, confident of his own understanding of the situation. Until he watched as Finn put his fists through the chest plate of one of the twin AK-130 sentries.

"Pampered huh?" The officer joking stated as he watched Finn decapitate the second droid with a whip kick. "That can't be good." the officer said as he watched Finn remove a dust power cell from one of the broken robots. At that point Kidwell had already exited the monitoring room in a flurried panic.

"Don't do it!" Kidwell shouted as he struggled to push open the metal door. The broken AK-130's laid in front of the door, making it only possible to force the door partly open. If Finn had meant to block the doors it was a stroke of genius. But from what he read about the young man chances were he simply got lucky and the bodies fell perfectly to block the entrance. "We are on the outer hull of the ship, you will breach the hull!"

"I was counting on that." Finn smirked as he held the dust power cell against the far wall. The power cell crackled as the boy's eyes began to mirror the red glow of the power cell. "I'd close that door if I were you . . . going to get pretty drafty in here." gritting his teeth in anger, Kidwell sealed the door once more as an explosion rocked the airship.

When the door was finely opened the room was bare and any trace of Finn was gone out the gaping hole in the hull. Do to the secret nature of the whole integration; Kidwell had a hard time explaining to the captain what had happened. In the end he came up with a story involving explosives that were mishandled, a story that made him and his men look like fools. They were all placed under supervision and confined to non-restrict parts of the ship. Luckily they were less than an hour from Vale and were able to set down for repairs. Fortunate for the crew of the airship, less so for the shamed officer.

"I want him found; he will have no choice other than to stay in Vale." Kidwell ordered as he stepped off the damaged ship.

"Sir, he fell out of the ship while it was in flight . . . he had to have died in the fall." One of his higher ranking officers suggested only to be answered by a glare.

"If you think he fell you are an idiot." Kidwell insulted before turning towards all the military men exiting the ship in full masked combat gear. "I'll bet you anything he is among us right now." Kidwell couldn't have searched the ship without ruining his cover and even now he was helpless to do anything. All he could do was eye every passing soldier and hope for a stroke of luck, something that never came as the soldiers left for leave. Since they were grounded there was no point of keeping all the soldiers aboard to simply get in the way of repairs. The ship sat upon one of the few landing pads that could accommodate its size. This just happened to rest a short walk from Beacon. A whole school full of children Finn's age, it was going to be nearly impossible to find him before he got lost in the shuffle.

"We may have to request assistance from Ironwood." Kidwell considered. As he lost himself in thought, Kidwell failed to notice a single, limping, soldier break off from the rest and head in Beacon's direction.

Stumbling in to one of the changing rooms of Beacon, Finn quickly disposed of the Atlas military helmet before resting his back against a locker. The last rays of dusk were pouring in through the high windows of the locker room, giving Finn very little light to inspect his injuries. He had clearly not avoided injury when he detonated the dust fuel cell. Burns and cuts were speckled across his face. He could barely keep his left hand from trembling, even as he supported it with his right. Blood had begun to stain through the glove and drip on to locker rooms pristine floor. It was stupid of him to think he could contain that blast, the only thing holding his hand together was the bloodstained glove at that point.

"Dust. . . I need dust." he kept repeating to himself as he began to pry open a locker with his only good hand. Anger, adrenaline and something else drove Finn's strength as the lockers metal groaned before snapping open. Cartridges spilled from the locker as it was rattled from the sudden force of having its door torn off. A look of primal desire filled the injured boy's eyes as he took a handful of rounds. Finn could feel his heart pounding in his chest and every beat only bought a wave of pulsing pain that ended at the tip of his left hand. In his near trance like state he didn't even notice the name plate on the discarded locker door, a name that would lead him to much more suffering if his transgression was ever discovered. The name of Yang Xiao Long.

Yang stood in front of her broken and ravaged locker as the light of a new day spilled in to the locker room. Shell casing lay broken and scattered across the floor before her. Not a speck of dust remained behind; who ever had robbed her had not even spilled a grain of it. The damage to her locker and the theft of all her cartridge's was one thing, but they had not been gentle when they emptied Ember Celica of her rounds. The golden metal that made up the outer shell of Yang's weapons were badly scraped and tarnished, almost as if a Grimm or some wild beast had been using it as a toy.

"Ahh, Yang . . . are you okay?" Yang's concerned sister asked as she inched closer. Ruby was treating the situation as if Yang was a powder keg that was on a delayed fuse. Blake and Weiss were no where's to be seen at first until their checker board pattern heads stuck out from behind a row of lockers.

"I'm fine, sis!" Yang proclaimed as she spun to face Ruby, who yelped from the sudden movement before her sister reassuringly gave her a pat on the shoulder and a smile. "At least I will be . . . when I find who did this."

"Right." Ruby answered as she watched her sister leave the locker room. Ruby almost felt sorry for the poor thief, almost.

"That was surprisingly calmer than what I was expecting." Weiss admitted as she stepped out from her hiding place, followed closely by Blake.

"Yeah, I thought for sure she was going to get ugly when she first saw her locker." Blake added as she and the heiress stopped in front of the destroyed locker.

"I don't think it's over yet, you guys." Ruby stated before Yang's locker fell over. "I think this is just the the beginning."

"General Ironwood." Kidwell greeted as he entered the Generals office.

"Major, Kidwell, was it. I understand the ship you were aboard suffered some problems." Ironwood humorously joked. He had gotten the report of the incident and the major's name appeared in almost every paragraph, and not in a very favorable manner.

"Yes, I assumed you would have heard about that. Which is the reason I am here. I thought I would inform you of the true reason for that explosion." Kidwell could tell the General simply saw him as an officer trying to save face. The way the generals brow frowned told him the older man even assumed Archer was attempting to blame someone else for his own mistake. The young major couldn't help but feel smug knowing the general was completely wrong. He was going to take great joy proving the old man wrong.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author<strong>_

_**First chapter posted and more on the way, at a somewhat decent pace, I'm hoping. It's always the hardest thing trying to get the ball rolling at the start of a story, for myself anyways. I would very much like to have the FanFic community involved as much as possible. So any feedback, suggestions or Original characters are welcome, as long as they are within reason. I'm not opposed to shipping, if the readers prefer a pairing I'll do my best to fit it in.**_


	2. Wanted

The bulletin board hung on the wall unchanging and motionless like any good bulletin board. However, Finn could not help but feel like it was mocking him; it took all the restraint in his being to keep from tearing the whole thing down. A message had been left on the board, a quickly scribbled note talking about a thief and what he looked like. It looked just like the work of a jilted school mate that got a look at a thief that had robbed them. The description left at the end of the note was a perfect delineation of his own likeness. It was true that Finn had taken up residence in beacon. He just had to steal a few uniforms and blend in. All the new exchange students made it laughably easy to blend in for the most part. He was sure none of the students had gotten a look at him, he was too careful and he didn't remember ever being confronted or chased. Kidwell must have posted that note in the guise of a student in an attempt to get the students of Beacon to do his dirty work.

"See, Yang!" Ruby directed the attention of her sister as she pushed past Finn. "The thief struck again and this time they got a look at him."

"What? Is there a picture!?" Yang asked as she unintentionally threw Finn out of the way.

"No, but, there is a description!" Ruby pointed out before she began reading off the details. "Between five foot nine and six foot." Finn quickly slouched as Ruby began to read off more details. "Male, human, brown hair, green eyes, fair complexion . . . this person got a really good look at him." At that point Finn began to slink away from the two before bumping directly in to Blake.

"I wonder why they didn't just catch him their self?" Yang pondered before the commotion of Blake running in to Finn drew her attention.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." Finn quickly apologized in hopes of leaving the scene hastily before being noticed by the blonde. A hope that was dashed as Yang made her way over.

"Hey, Blake, someone has seen that thief." Yang announced before glancing towards Finn, who at this point was sweating profusely. 'What's wrong with him?" Yang asked Blake, who only shrugged before excusing Finn and leaving to inspect the bulletin board with the others.

"I bet it's one of those exchange students from Vacuo." Weiss suggested, causing a great deal of scorn to come from Blake's direction.

"You have to be kidding me." Finn mumbled as he watched the four girls, only leaving when he noticed Blake begin to read the posting.

"Wait a minute. . ." Blake began as she read halfway through the description. "I think that was him." Blake stated as she turned to face the now empty hallway.

"Who was him?" Yang inquired as she tried to understand Blake's statement.

"That guy who ran in to me, I think it was the thief." Yang stared with a blank expression as she comprehended what Blake was suggesting. It took a good few seconds to rewind her thoughts back to when she glanced at the stranger. Going through the list of features in her mind once more, Yang quickly checked them off in her mind as a scowl slowly grew on her brow.

"Where did he go!?" Yang inquired as she skidded in to the next corridor as she gave chase. At the end of the hallway Finn met Yang's fiery eyes with a vacant stare before he vanished in to the next corridor in a panicked rush. "Get back here, you thief!" Yang exclaimed before pursuing Finn.

"Should we . . . help?" Blake inquired as the remaining members of team RWBY watched Yang disappear down the hall.

"Naaah" Ruby replied as the sounds of crashing and screams echoed back up the hallway.

"But you could catch him in no time." Weiss tried to reason, only to receive a delighted stare from the younger girl.

"Aww do you really think so . . . I mean I am fast, after all." Ruby began before she noticed Weiss's unimpressed expression. "Yang has been looking forward to this for days. And I wouldn't want to get in her way, anyways." Ruby admitted with a soft chuckle.

Students and random unsecured objects were sent flying as Finn did everything he could to try and block Yang's path, but it would have been easier to stop a charging Ursa. The Ursa at least was no where's near as nimble as Yang, as Fin discovered as the blonde dodged and leapt over each hurdle. Finn had avoided being caught by Atlas military forces for nearly a week and now he was in danger of being taken out by an enraged blonde bombshell. He couldn't help but laugh to himself as he darted through the hallways of Beacon.

"Coming through!" Finn warned as he bounded over a group of students that were kind enough to open the doors leading outside for him. Rolling with his momentum, Finn took a moment to glance back towards the door, confident that he had lost his tail. "Why are you so damn persistent!?" Finn groaned as he watched Yang force her way through the students blocking her path. "It was only a few lousy dust cartridges." Finn made sure to keep his confession below any audible level of hearing before he began to flee once more.

"Where did he go now?" Yang wondered aloud before she turned in to an alleyway. "Oh." Yang could almost hardly believe that the thief had stopped running and was standing his ground. The alleyway wasn't even a dead end. "Giving up? Or maybe you just can't run anymore?" Yang mocked as she cracked her knuckles in preparation of the beating she was about to deal out.

"Can't you just let it go? It was only a few dust cartridges. I can assure you I needed them more than you at the time." Finn fell silent as he thought about how his last few words sounded. "That just sounded incredibly arrogant didn't it?"

"Yep." Yang agreed as she began to close the distance between them.

"Hey, You don't want to do this, because there is no way you can win this fight . . . doing it again . . . aren't I?" Yang only nodded as she came to a halt within punching distance.

"I have to hand it to you though, I don't know if I have ever wanted to hit someone as much as I want to hit you right now. . .save maybe one other." Yang stated before grasping Finn's collar with her left hand, an action Finn mirrored on yang. "What are you-" Yang began before she swung her fist towards Finn's face, only to have it caught mid swing. For a long moment the two stood motionless, stuck in a strange embrace. "Let go of me." Yang ordered as she attempted to pull her fist away.

"Are you going to calm down?" Finn asked as he tightened his hand around Yang's fist.

"I am calm!" Yang proclaimed as her eyes flashed red.

"Ha Right." Finn retorted before Yang attempted to kick his legs out from under him. An action Finn avoided by stepped back, and dragging Yang along with him.

"What are you doing!?" Yang shouted as she continued to try and trip the strange thief, who only kept drawing back and swaying.

"What are you doing?" As their fight continued it appeared more like a dance than a fight, a very aggressive dance, but a dance none the less.

"I'm kicking your butt!" Yang stated before the world turned upside down as Finn dipped her, causing her head to fall back and her golden locks to flow like a glinting water fall.

"Really? Because I'm dancing." Finn stated before he dropped the off balance girl on to her back.

"You son of a-" She retorted before rising back to her feet. Finn gained some distance from the angry blonde, but was still standing his ground.

"Let's not do this, tell you what you walk that way and I'll just walk this way." Finn stated before he turned his back to Yang. "Oh . . . oh shit." He exclaimed as he noticed the Atlas AK-200's blocking his path. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed another pair of AK-200's stepping in behind Yang. "No problem here guys, we were just having a minor disagreement."

"Finn Rice you are wanted by Atlas authorities. You will come with us." One of the AK-200's announced, though Finn couldn't be sure exactly what one was doing the talking.

"Why is Atlas involved with a school thief?" Yang questioned before one of the droids stepped towards her.

"Witnesses will be brought in for questioning, please do not resist." The AK-200 stated as it placed a metal hand on Yang's shoulder.

"I'm under arrest too?" Yang yelped. "But I didn't do anything!"

"I warned you, I told you to just walk away." Finn rolled his eyes before raising his hands as the remaining AK-200's moved in on him with weapons drawn.

* * *

><p>Yang sat across from Finn as the bullhead carried them away from Beacon. She had already attempted to reason with the machines, but they were quite adamant that she be taken along. She could only hope that someone saw her being carted off and would report to the headmaster what they had seen. Ozpin would be able to sort everything out, at least Yang hoped he would. It was only when she began to relax when she noticed the Atlesian Knights still had their weapons trained on the thief.<p>

"Just what is it that you did?" Yang inquired as she raised an eyebrow.

"Surprisingly little until just recently, Right guys?" Finn answered before turning to each one of the Knights keeping guard over him,

"The prisoner will refrain from any sudden movements or attempts to communicate with the witness." The lead knight stated.

"You guys aren't any fun. The AK-130's . . . at least they kept their mouths shut." Finn lamented as he attempted to rest his chin on the over-sized restraints they had fastened to his hands and lower forearms. "Was this really necessary?" he questioned as he held the restraints up for the droids to see.

"The prisoner will refrain from any sudden movements." The Same knight repeated.

"I got it!. . . .BOO!" Finn shouted as he swiftly raised his arms as high as his restraints would allow. The droids leaned in as their fingers drifted a centimeter closer to their triggers.

"Are you trying to get us killed!?" Yang shouted as she feared being shot in the cross fire.

"No. . . I'm sorry I got you involved in this . . . and for stealing from you." Finn apologized as he pressed his back against the hull of the bullhead. He had been screwing up a lot lately, but he never thought he would end up dragging an innocent person down with him.

"The prisoner will refrain from speaking to the witness." The droid ordered causing one of Finn's eyes to twitch.

"I will dismantle you tin man and scatter your pieces across Vale!" He threatened as he attempted to rise from his seat, only to have a chain attached to his restraints hold him down.

"The Prisoner will refrain from threatening the AK-200 Unit." the AK-200 unit directed in its deep monotone voice.

"You can't make me! You can't take that right from me, no one can!" Finn would have stuck a finger in the machines face plate if all of them weren't currently hidden behind an inch of metal.

"You're kind of odd, aren't you?" Yang inquired as she eyed the strange thief.

"I prefer the term lovably absurd." Finn countered as he gave his best smile.

"The prisoner will refrain from speaking with the witness."

"Oh what are you going to do about it, metal man?" Finn would come to regret those words as he felt the butt of the AK-200's rifle meet his temple. "Ooooow" Finn managed to mutter before his conscious drifted from him.

"Are you okay?" Was the first thing Finn heard as he slowly regained consciousness.

"No mommy I don't want to get up for school." As Yang's face slowly came in to focus Finn swiftly raised his head to a more dignified state. It was at that point he discovered he was being dragged by two of the AK-200's "We will forget I just said that and never speak of it ever again."

"Mommy?" Yang fought to fight back a laugh as she watched Finn steady himself on his own feet.

"Ever again." Finn reminded Yang as he leaned closer to her. "It's like women don't listen these days."

"Hey!" Yang retorted before they were both shoved on to the hanger bay of the airship they had landed on. "Okay, you did more than just steal some school supplies to get Atlas after you, what did you do?"

"It's better . . . and safer that you don't know." He replied as he sighed to himself. His situation was hopeless, he was back aboard an Atlas ship and by the looks of things Kidwell had the full support of the Atlas forces on the ship. AK-200's lined the hanger bay, their synthetic eyes watching the movements of the new arrivals. "Hey don't worry, you got nothing to do with me and the big wigs will know that. You will be home in time for supper." Finn reassured Yang before another AK-200 told him to refrain from speaking once more.

"And what's going to happen to you." Yang inquired

"Execution." Finn said with a shrug before he noticed Yang's shocked expression. "A joke. . . I don't know what will happen to me. Most likely just a stern talking to." He wished he was completely joking, but execution almost seemed like a real possibility.

"You have a strange sense of humor." Yang noted as she turned her gaze away from Finn.

"Lovably absurd." Finn reminded Yang as the AK-200's began to separate them.

"I guess this is where we part ways." Yang reasoned as they were lead to different lifts.

"Hey! Call me." Finn joked before the lift doors sealed shut.

* * *

><p>"I understand you got yourself in to a little trouble, Yang." Ironwood greeted as he dismissed the AK-200's, who quickly holstered their weapons and left through the same lift that brought them to Ironwoods office. "But I assume that's probably nothing new to you." James joked as he stepped out from behind his desk.<p>

"Why was I brought here? Am I under arrest?" Yang asked as she crossed her arms. She had taken enough and was ready for some straight answers.

"No, no, you are certainly not under arrest." He assured Yang before offering her a seat. "We just need to ask you a few questions about the young man you were . . . taken in to custody with. It will only take a moment"

"Like what?" The desire to put the whole situation behind her was almost unbearable. And the sooner the questions were asked the sooner she would be able to leave.

"First, have you ever seen or had any contact with him before today?" James inquired as he retook his seat behind his desk.

"No, I only ran in to him today." Yang thought about telling Ironwood about her personal grievance with Finn, but decided whatever they arrested him for was much worse than minor theft. "I don't even know his name." Yang said with a surprising hint of regret in the tone of her voice.

"Very good . . . Did he say anything to you?" A serious tone suddenly filled Ironwoods words as he narrowed his gaze on the young woman.

"What do you mean? Anything? He said a lot of things." Yang replied as she thought about the conversations she had with Finn. "Mostly nonsense."

"Nonsense? How so?" A hint of worry could be heard in James voice as he questioned Yang farther.

"Just stupid stuff, he was kind of an odd ball."

"But nothing strange or unbelievable?"

"No just random things. He mostly argued with your robots, to be honest."

"Very good, I think we can have you cleared and out of here in no time, Ms Long. I do apologize for the inconvenience."

"Wait, that's it?" Yang asked as she watched as Ironwood summoned for the AK-200's to return from a panel on his desk. The whole questioning felt like it could have been done over a scroll. And cost a lot less time and money.

"Yes, I have no further questions for you. I told you it would only take a moment."

* * *

><p>As Ironwood was finishing up with Yang, Finn was being lead deep in to the heart of the airship. A measure they took in hopes to prevent a repeat of a weak ago, no doubt. With every step he took Finn felt his spirit drop lower and lower, as if every mechanical step of the AK-200's was the clank of a cog slowly dragging him lower and lower in to despair.<p>

"Welcome back." Kidwell greeted as Finn entered the interrogation room.

"I'm back." Finn replied with a sigh.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Finn: After all that I'm back at square one?!<strong>_

_**Author: Oh don't worry about it. Things will be much better for you by next chapter, I'm sure **_

_**Finn: You left me off in the lion's den!**_

_**Author: Isn't that a reality TV show?**_

_**Finn: No, I think that's dragon's den.**_

_**Author: Besides that, what's the story behind your father and your fixation with dust?**_

_**Finn: Spoilers.**_

_**Author: Where did you get that bowtie?**_

_**Finn: Bowties are cool.**_

_**Yang: Right, Keep telling yourself that.**_

_**Finn: Well I'd try cleavage like you, but I'm sadly under equipt.**_

_**Yang: What did you just say!?**_

_**Finn: You want to go round two Goldilocks?**_

_**Yang: You won't have those robots saving you this time!**_

_**Author: Ahh guys?**_

_**Finn: Bring it!**_

_**Yang & Finn: Arrrggghhhh!**_

_**Author: While they sort that out I'd like to thank you for reading. And also to remind you that comments, suggestions, and reviews are always welcome.** _


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